Sports Update

NAPLES, Fla., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Defending champions Brad Faxon and Scott McCarron combined for an 8-under-par 64 on Friday and have the first-round lead at the Franklin Templeton Shootout.

Senior PGA Tour member Ray Floyd and United States Ryder Cup team member Stewart Cink are alone in second at 65, a stroke better than three teams.

Faxon and McCarron won last year's event in a playoff with Scott Hoch and Carlos Franco at Doral's "Great White" course in Miami. This year's tournament is being held at the Tiburon Golf Club.

The $2 million tournament opened with alternate-shot play, goes to best-ball on Saturday and concludes with Sunday's

Bill Elliott on NASCAR pole

HOMESTEAD, Fla., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Bill Elliott is a man of few words, but when he does have something to say, it usually makes sense in a down-home way.

After Dodge swept the top-three spots Friday at Homestead Speedway in qualifying for Sunday's NASCAR Winston Cup Pennzoil 400, the pole-winner summed it up perfectly.

Elliott helped Dodge sweep the state of Florida by winning the pole with a lap at 155.226 miles per hour in a Dodge Intrepid. Elliott also won the pole for the February 18 Daytona 500 and fellow Dodge driver Sterling Marlin won the pole in July's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Raceway. It was Elliott's 51st career pole and second this season.

Casey Atwood, Elliott's teammate at Ray Evernham Motorsports, qualified second at 154.688 mph. John Andretti put a Petty Enterprises Dodge third on the grid with a lap at 154.268.

The only non-Dodge team to crack the top five was Ricky Rudd, who qualified a Ford Taurus fourth at 153.811 mph. Marlin rounded out the top five for Dodge with a fifth-place qualifying lap at 153.571 mph.

Rudd enters the race 326 points behind Jeff Gordon in the battle for the Winston Cup title with three events remaining.

Phillies trade Daal to Dodgers

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The Philadelphia Phillies on Friday traded lefthander Omar Daal to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a pair of minor league pitchers.

The Phillies acquired Eric Junge and Jesus Cordero for Daal, who had a $4.5 million contract option for 2002 exercised on Thursday. Philadelphia had the option of buying out the contract for $500,000.

Daal, who will be 30 by Opening Day 2002, rebounded from a miserable season, going 13-7 with a 4.46 ERA and helping the Phillies stay in the pennant race until October.

In 2000, the Venezuelan went 4-19 with a 6.14 ERA in 32 games with Philadelphia and Arizona, nearly becoming the first pitcher since Oakland's Brian Kingman in 1980 to lose 20 games.

Daal, who has been with five teams since making his major league debut in 1993, is 53-58 with a 4.48 ERA lifetime. He has had his best years with the Diamondbacks, posting a 2.88 ERA in 1988 and a 16-9 mark in 1999.

Gil out 4-6 weeks with surgery

MIAMI, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Miami Heat forward Kendall Gill on Friday had surgery to repair his broken left pinky and is expected to miss four to six weeks.

Gill, who shoots righthanded, injured himself reaching for a ball in overtime of an 87-85 victory over Seattle on Tuesday. He finished with just four points and eight rebounds in 35 minutes.

Miami's starting small forward, Gill has averaged 4.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game since signing with the Heat in the offseason. The 11-year veteran has career averages of 15.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 749 games, also playing for New Jersey, Charlotte and Seattle. On April 3, 1999, Gill tied the NBA record for steals in a game with 11 for New Jersey against Miami.

Miami, Oregon on similar paths

Miami and Nebraska, the nation's two top college football powerhouses, head into the final weeks of the season, hoping everything will continue coming up roses.

But, the path to the Rose Bowl and the national collegiate championship is covered with thorns. The Hurricanes and the Cornhuskers, like others among football's elite. must concentrate on conference matters first. And, teams such as Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon and Florida still have their hopes up for a share in the big game.

The spotlight Saturday focuses on top-ranked Miami and No. 7 Oregon, two teams on opposite ends of the nation but on similar paths. Both schools are led by Heisman Trophy candidates at quarterback and will go on the road to face conference opponents missing high-powered running backs.

The Hurricanes (7-0), now No. 2 in the Bowl Championship Series standings, travel north to Boston College in a Big East Conference game. The task was made a bit easier when Eagles running back William Green, the nation's leading rusher, was suspended Tuesday for an unspecified violation of team rules.

Miami's offense centers around Ken Dorsey, who became the school's all-time leader in passing touchdowns last week in a 38-0 victory over Temple. Dorsey threw his 49th and 50th career TDs, breaking the mark of 48 he shared with Vinny Testaverde and Steve Walsh.

Joey Harrington will take Oregon (8-1) to the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, Calif., ia for a Pac-10 Conference meeting with No. 16 UCLA (6-2), a game that's rated a toss-up. Harrington tied a school record last week with six touchdown passes as the Ducks routed Arizona State, 42-24.

The Ducks, in a three-way tie with Washington State and Washington atop the Pac-10 standings, will not have to worry about facing Bruins running back DeShaun Foster. Third in the nation in rushing, Foster was declared ineligible by the school and will not play this week.

It is a busy Saturday of college football, with each top 25 team in action. The only other matchup between ranked teams is in the Southeastern Conference, where No. 3 Florida (7-1) will visit No. 15 South Carolina (7-2).

Second-ranked Nebraska (10-0) remained first in the BCS poll this week and will seek its 13th straight win when it hosts Kansas State, the last team to beat theCornhuskers. After slipping to third in the BCS poll this week, No. 4 Oklahoma (8-1) hosts Texas A&M.

NEW YORK, Nov. 9 (UPI) --The Players Association has attempted to set up a road block to halt Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig's plan for downsizing the major leagues.

Gene Orza, the union's associate general counsel, has confirmed the Players Association filed a grievance immediately after Selig announced on Tuesday that baseball's owners had begun the process of eliminating two teams before next season.

The grievance charges that the owners violated their collective bargaining agreement, which expired at midnight Wednesday, by unilaterally deciding to fold two teams. The union claims the contract, which rolls over until a new deal is negotiated, requires the owners to consult with the players before it can eliminate teams.

Shyam Das, baseball's impartial arbitrator, will hold a hearing which the owners hope to expedite in order to proceed with their plans.

Management lawyers presented an outline of their plans on contraction and player distribution in the form of a dispersal draft Thursday at the Players Association's offices in New York. Baseball's owners voted 28-2 on Tuesday to allow Selig to pursue the elimination of two teams, likely the Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins.

Mattingly passes on Yankee job

MONTCLAIR, N.J., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Don Mattingly apparently won't be a candidate to succeed Gary Denbo as the New York Yankees.

Citing a desire to spend most of his time at home in Indiana with his family, Mattingly said he prefers to remain a part-time hitting instructor in the Yankees' organization, a position he has held for the last two years.

"My base is still home (Indiana) and I couldn't do it (the job of full-time hitting coach) 100 percent at this point," Mattingly said Thursday at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center. "I'd love to keep doing what I'm doing. I feel like I'm good at it."

One of the most popular players in team history and the 1985 American League Most Valuable Player, Mattingly was the first choice to succeed Chris Chambliss, who was fired as hitting coach following the 2000 championship season, but turned the job down.

NBA suspends, fines Raptor

NEW YORK, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The NBA has suspended Toronto Raptors forward Keon Clark one game without pay for throwing an elbow at the head of Golden State Warriors forward Troy Murphy in Wednesday's game.

Clark was also fined $7,500 and will miss Toronto's game Saturday at Utah.

Clark elbowed Murphy early in the fourth quarter of Toronto's 109-92 victory over the Warriors. The Raptors blocked an NBA-record 24 shots in that game, including three by Clark.

The other semifinal pits Slovakia's Henrieta Nagyova, the second seed, against Belarus' Tatiana Poutchek, who advanced to the first tour semifinal of her career. Nagyova dismissed South African qualifier Liezel Huber, 6-4, 6-3, as she marched into her second semifinal of 2001 Poutchek upset No. 5 Tatiana Panova of Russia, 6-2, 6-3.

Belgium, Spain win in Fed Cup

MADRID, Spain, Nov. 9 (uPI) -- Top-seeded Belgium and third-seed Spain won Friday, setting up a battle for a spot in the final of the 2001 Fed Cup.

Belgium recorded its second whitewash in three days to overwhelm Australia, 3-0. Spain was forced to overcome the loss of its opening singles match to get past Germany, 2-1.

The winner of Saturday's Pool B tie between Belgium and Spain will advance to Sunday's final at the Institute Ferial Madrid.

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